Today is the deadline for certifying rank lists. This blog is no stranger to talk of rank lists and matching, and I’m about ready for it to end. I talked about my list starting to emerge here, and if you need a refresher on how the whole match process works, check here. If you care to, you can also take a look back at my post about when my original med school class matched and graduated, not-so-optimistically titled “Moving on when everyone else is moving out.” I certified my rank list a couple of weeks ago, sitting with a coffee shop with Michelle, another fabulous MSTP, who helped me proof my list to make sure I wasn’t accidentally ranking a program where I didn’t interview, etc. A few of the highlights of this waiting game:

I reviewed my list again today to make sure it was right. The application program (ERAS) and the ranking program (NRMP) don’t use the same program codes – that would be too easy – so I double checked and cross-referenced the codes when I made my list, and checked them for a third time today. I live in fear that I’ve accidentally left my favorite program off the list.

Somehow this deadline is only the beginning of the waiting. Even though I feel like I’ve been waiting since December 14, when I finished my interviews, it will take the matching algorithm almost another month to grind through my list, and those of all of the other wishful applicants, and assign me a spot. March 15 feels so far away.

I’m fairly certain that no matter where on my list of twelve I match, I will be happy and get great training. I think I’ll be taking the advice of one sage AMSA friend, and in the twelve days leading up to Match Day I’ll go in alphabetical order through my programs and share with you all of the things I love about each of them. We’ll call it the Twelve Days of Matchmas. I haven’t decided whether I want a partridge or not.

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